Autumnal Craziness abounds

Argh, it's been crazy busy around here.  The past weekend was the weavers guild sale.  We had amazing participation from members willing to come out to man our booth.   It was part of a greater community art sale.  The location has been moving around for a number of years, even before Covid, and sales have been pretty iffy at times, depending on the spot.   One location was well attended by a huge number of people who commented each time we tried to engage them, that they were only here for an afternoon out and to look.  It was so frustrating.   This weekend though, the location was such that the people came ready to shop.   Even though they shopped at all the different booths, it was lovely to see the artists happy at the sale.  

There were a couple of potters with lovely wares.  One was a little too softly coloured, with their good smaller and pastel glazed.  The other however, had pieces with lots of cobalt, white and copper glazes with beautiful shapes.  There were mugs big enough for my tea mug.   Since my currant tea mug has suddenly acquired a chip in the base, I was getting worried about it breaking and not having a replacement.  One of those lovely mugs came home with me.  I really liked the cobalt and copper look, but the mugs were smaller, so I came home with a white and cobalt mug, big with a nice shape.  I got to have one cup of tea in it to test it and then hubby put it away.

 I still adore my tea mug that I've used for almost 14 years.  It's the perfect size and weight for me.   It's made by Oneida and it's obviously from a Christmas collection since the cat is wearing a pine wreath or circlet on it's head and a red scarf with stars.  I've looked on and off over the years for a replacement on various sites and not even found a reference to this pattern.  I think of the 100's of cuppas I've had in this over the years and it does make me sad that one day that chip will crack the cup.   Still, it's been a good journey with this cute cup. 

I've been on a weaving binge, although my hip has complained excessively.   With the sale on the horizon, I had a commission for blankets.  They had to be done before the sale though.  I'll admit that one night we ate frozen chicken burgers for supper, and another night I made a quiche in the name of expediency so I could finish the projects.   Much crazyiness ensued for two weeks but my family was okay with it.  Blankets were finished in time and handed off to the new owner.  That was a sigh of relief.

Yesterday morning I put a scarf warp on the rigid heddle loom.    I went to the sale at Spinrite and they had this kid mohair/silk on for $3 a skein.   It's absolutely lovely and I wish I'd purchased more.  This one is about 8 inches wide.   It's very soft and weaving up nicely.   

My research suggests that mohair needs to be woven with a wider sett, to keep the fuzzy halo, soft and not itchy. It's supposed to catch and and can be tough to weave.  It's weaving beautifully however.   I read  that mohair yarn that is 1000yds per 100g, should be sett at 7 or 8.   I'm using my 7.5 reed, so I'm hoping it will be good.   It's certainly pretty enough.  

This is Phil and Dion, the feral kitties who chose to live with us.  Literally, Phil (on the left) hung around all summer, then screamed at me one day when I went to hang laundry when the weather was cooling.   I looked after him and the next day he brought Dion with him.  They didn't leave.  They are now spoiled house cats.  They sleep together when the weather cools down.  

  In the cold weather, Phil really likes to be warm at night.  He wakes me up so that I can lift the covers and give him a space to crawl underneath.   A lot of times he seems to decide to spend the whole night there, so he slips his head on my pillow so his body stays warm.  I've woken up and he's in the same place he was when I went to sleep.  If he's just cold though, he just curls up underneath the blankets.  Once his nose and feet are warm, he hops out.   Believe me, sometimes his feet get cold to be felt through jeans and long johns, so I can understand why he wants to warm up under the covers.

Woolly activities

I've finished the hooking part of the basket weave rug.   I'm quite happy with it so far.   I still need to steam it so it's flat.   Then I will baste a cord wrapped in the backing, around the edge of the rug.  The final steps are to whip stitch wool yarn around the edge to cover the cording and backing, to give a firm finish, which will frame the rug.  

I don't have the yarn yet, which will likely be black.   I was thinking about spinning it.  It won't take a lot, maybe about 150 yards.  But it will have to be dyed.  The fibre that I have which is suitable, is still raw fleece, so it will need to be washed.   By the time I've washed the fleece, let it dry, worked out the calculations to spin it to the necessary twist and grist, and then spin, ply and dye it, spending the $7.45 for the single skein of yarn that I'd need, seems to be an easier solution.  

I'm happy with the rug though.   Now to find a local dealer for Briggs and Little yarn, Regal weight.  

This is the end of the blanket project which is on the loom.  I wove this blanket it 2 halves.  Because I only have 4 shafts and my loom is only 36 in wide, I can't do a twill double weave project.   So if I want to do a twill blanket, I weave it in two long strips and stitch them together.    It's not really sewing it together, it's more like running an extra warp thread down the middle, picking up the little loops along the selvedge, where you reverse the weft.   It's easy and takes only a long thread of warp and a tapestry or darning needle.

Joining the two halves

The seam line from joining using this technique is almost invisible.

You just pick up one loop on the selvedge of one piece, and then the next one on the selvedge on the second piece.  The reason I like joining two woven pieces this way is because the seam is nearly invisible.

My finger is on the seam.  Despite the bit of extra bulk at the selvedges, it's still really hard to see.

I thought that I wove the blanket halves to 95in, knowing there would be a lot of shrinkage when it first came off the loom.  Obviously I wove the first half to only 92 inches because the second half it a few inches longer than the first.    It's an easy fix though.  I'm joining the two halves together first.  Then I will pull a weft thread where I want a cutting line to even up the two blanket pieces.   I'll then stitch along the blanket side of the little gap to secure the threads before cutting the extra off.  

I hem my blankets these days, rather than twisting fringes.   If I were to sell blankets, I'd likely twist the fringes as people seem to like the look.  However, I want my blankets functional and I find the twisted fringes get in the way.  They tickle chins and noses, get caught up in fingers, and other things and of course are the perfect cat toys.   Hems are far more utilitarian as far as I'm concerned and I'm willing to give up a pretty finish in order to not wake up with a fringe bit caught up where I don't want it.